Abstract
From:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Research/Seminars/SoYouWantToBeAnEngi
neeringProfessional
What does it mean to be an engineering education professional? One answer is to
consider the kinds of professional careers that exist, or could be developed, in the
future. Almost all of our ENE graduates to date have found positions in academic
institutions. As an emerging discipline, we are likely an anomaly – in established
engineering disciplines approximately 3% of graduates enter academic roles.
Although the nature of engineering education research may open up alternative
academic career paths (e.g., center and program directors for teaching and learning,
faculty development, diversity, and student services), it is likely that the success of
our graduates in finding academic careers will decrease considerably and perhaps
stabilize, particularly as new engineering education programs emerge nationally
and internationally.
One critical career pathway is to establish a program’s industrial relevance. Virtually
every other school of engineering can be linked to certain equipment, processes,
services or software that industry values and depends upon. As a relatively new
school, ENE is still working to establish its industrial relevance. Given the mega
issues which industry is facing – the retiring baby boomer brain drain, the
accelerating pace of new knowledge creation and obsolescence of the value of prior
knowledge, the increased segmentation of careers into shorter and more diverse
fragments, and the increasing complexity of social and global problems – there are
many opportunities to imagine how engineering education as a discipline can add
value to industrial companies. However, we will need to put deliberate effort into
growing the demand for the skills, knowledge, and values of our profession – e.g.,
the development of human capital to address global engineering challenges of the
present and future.
Another career pathway is to establish a program’s societal relevance. A common
indicator of the role of professional engineers in society is through the creation and
application of technological knowledge in the development of social and consumer
goods (e.g., GNP, and quality of life indicators). While aspects of this relevance may
be linked to establishing industrial relevance, more broadly this speaks to the ability
of engineering education graduates to be leaders, making and shaping decisions of
broad impact along social, global, political, economic, and cultural dimensions.
</p><p>This seminar will be an interactive session working in small groups to (1)
identify industry experiences we need to find or create to prepare our graduates for
non-academic careers and establish the industrial relevance of engineering
education, and (2) take a first step towards developing an engineering education
professional identity (e.g., how to update your resume, translate your work into an
industrial context, and make the most of the upcoming Industry Advisory Board
graduate session to meet professional needs or interests
Bio
From:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ENE/Research/Seminars/SoYouWantToBeAnEngi
neeringProfessional
Robert Davis is the General Manager of Purdue Engineering Consulting LLC, a
startup company in the Purdue Research Park he has formed for the College of
Engineering to facilitate faculty consulting and increase engagement between
faculty and industry. He is also the Interim Director of Engineering
Entrepreneurship, a pilot program in the College of Engineering which is housed
currently in the School of Industrial Engineering. These two activities are closely
intertwined as both involve the infusion of entrepreneurship into the College
Robert has served as the Assistant Head of Purdue’s School of Engineering
Education since 2007. Prior to that he worked in industry for 39 years, primarily
leading and creating technical businesses for Air Products and Chemical, Inc. He
maintained his links to Purdue during this time as an advisor to two of the schools of
engineering as well as recruiting Purdue graduates and students to his company. He
holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, with Highest Distinction, from Purdue and a
MBA, with Honors, from the University of Chicago. Robert also maintains a
consulting practice in the field of liquefied natural gas.
Robin S. Adams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering
Education at Purdue University. She is also led the Institute for Scholarship on
Engineering Education (ISEE) as part of the Center for the Advancement of
Engineering Education (CAEE). Prior to joining the faculty at Purdue, Dr. Adams
was the Assistant Director for Research at the Center for Engineering Learning and
Teaching (CELT) and worked with the Engineering Coalition of Schools for
Excellence in Engineering Education (ECSEL) in a variety of roles (curriculum
design, interdisciplinary program development (engineering and education),
program evaluation, and assessment of student learning). She was also a Sr. Design
Engineer in the semiconductor packaging industry and helped develop new uses of
thin film technology. Dr. Adams received her PhD in Education, Leadership and
Policy Studies from the University of Washington, an MS in Materials Science and
Engineering from the University of Washington, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering
from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Dr. Adams’ research
is concentrated in four interconnecting areas: cross-disciplinary thinking, acting,
and being; design cognition and learning; views on the nature of engineering
knowledge; and theories of change in linking engineering education research and
practice. Dr. Adams participates in many professional organizations including the
American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), the American Educational
Research Association (AERA), the International Society of the Learning Sciences
(ISLS), the Design Research Society (DRS), and the Association for the Study of
Higher Education
Cite this work
So You Want to Be an Engineering Education Professional: Exploring and Creating
Opportunities
http://cleerhub.org/resources/386